Imperium
by Miss-Inquisitive-Sci-fi
Summary: The net begins to close in on M and Q as Imperium up their efforts to get what they want. Bond and Eve have the fight of their lives on their hands as they strive to protect their friends, especially when M and Q decide to take the fight to the enemy. Will the agents finally be able to end the nightmare Imperium started? The final part of the 'Eureka Project' trilogy.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - So this is the final part of the trilogy started with the Eureka Project, it's all written but may take a few days to beta. Enjoy!**

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Mallory was beginning to grow bored with this cabinet meeting; well truly he had switched off after the first hour. Moneypenny had been lost after the first 5 minutes. M didn't blame his assistant as the meeting was proving to be pointless because know-one was budging from their positions. 2 hours in and they still couldn't agree on minor points of the budget. He sighed inwardly and kept one part of his mind on the god awful conversation whilst the other part went walkabout.

As much as he hated this part of the job it was actually quite a welcome change from the hectic lifestyle following his and Q's kidnapping; and the paranoia of routing out the mole. 2 months had passed since R had made his last desperate but fatal move, 2 months since Mallory had been shot through the neck and nearly bled to death; 2 months since any leads on Imperium had dried up.

Both M and Q had finally had the time to heal from their ordeal, the only thing that remained now was the scars. Q's evening phone calls had decreased in frequency and their therapy sessions were coming to a close. Things were getting back to normal; well as normal as they could be. The only thing really holding them all back from moving on properly was closure. The knowledge that Imperium was still out there kept them all up at night; kept their pistols close by. They needed to move on.

Soon after R's betrayal the department head's in MI6 were informed about everything; they worked round the clock to find any lead on Imperium for weeks. 00's were almost always out in the field and all down-time was cancelled. Nearly all their missions were running up leads that they thought could finally uncover Imperium, but so far they had only gotten dead end upon dead end. The entire exercise was proving to be demoralising for the whole team.

The only silver lining of the nightmare was Eve. She had stuck by her word and remained in Gareth's flat to help him heal and cover his back. They had grown closer than ever over the past 2 months and Mallory honestly didn't know how he coped or lived without her before; she lit up his world and made the nightmares disappear at night. Bond was of course still protecting Q, he hadn't let the quartermaster out of his sight after R's betrayal. Their schedules and routes to work were changed randomly and only a handful of people knew where M or Q would be at any one time.

007 trusted no-one outside their inner circle, that was the agent in him though. Mallory and Moneypenny were pretty sure MI6 was safe again, but they could never be too careful after what happened with R so they had taken precautions. Bond had relented to telling the department heads when he realised Q couldn't handle the load, and they needed the resources to find the organisation so they could finally all be safe again.

Mallory almost jumped as the meeting came to an end finally; he had well and truly nodded off. Eve threw him a knowing smile and he grinned back at her; ecstatic that the meeting was over and he was going to spend some time with his assistant. They made their way out of the government building; picking up the extra security team at the entrance. It had taken a while to get used to the extra bodies that stuck to him like glue, but after a while it had become normal and he almost forgot they were there. He had argued against such a blatant armed team but had lost that argument pretty quickly; he felt safe enough with Eve around and he never left the office unarmed any longer. He'd learnt that harsh lesson the first time round.

It was a beautiful day outside and Mallory swept his gaze over London. The sun was shining and the breeze cool so why did he suddenly feel cold? He felt a chill and suddenly his skin was tingling; maybe it was his paranoia kicking in but he was pretty sure they were being watched. He glanced at Eve casually not wanting to tip off anyone looking; she looked wary too. Good he wasn't being too paranoid; if his instincts said something was wrong and Moneypenny's then they were in trouble.

Mallory eyes swept over their surroundings tactically but didn't see anything out of place. Two men were waiting by their vehicle as standard and there was very little foot traffic in the area; everything looked right but it _felt_ wrong.

The entourage were just about to reach the car when M's ears perked up as he heard a sudden whooshing sound. The vehicle they were all heading towards abruptly exploded into a flaming ball of fire. Wicked heat pressed hard into Mallory and he felt himself flying backward as shock waves pressed into him from all sides.

M slammed into the ground hard. He tasted blood and his head and ears were ringing from the shock of the explosion. He distantly felt glass slice through his skin, chest and face. Tiny shards cutting and piercing all over his body. He heard car alarms blaring; people screaming and metal deforming as it burned.

He blearily opened his eyes and fought the urge to black out; his head was pounding and the drums in his head were battling his will for consciousness. There was too much danger around to just lay down and give in. His sight was blurry for a few seconds until he blinked away the fog. He turned his head to his left and started as he saw Eve laying next to him with her eyes closed.

_No!_

He panicked as he saw all the blood on her face and moved to haul himself up; he needed to know if she was okay, that she was breathing. Adrenaline raced through his body and he fought back the urge to be sick as he dragged his abused body over to Eve's. He registered the sound of gunfire as he reached her and breathed a sigh of relief when he found a steady pulse; she was just unconscious.

He glanced round and saw the flaming wreckage of their car; so much for it being armoured. He also saw their security team scattered round; some bleeding whilst others were crouched behind cover firing at targets that Mallory couldn't see. M made a split-second decision and grabbed Eve's body under her arms and dragged her away from the fight towards cover. It was only a short distance to the pillars but his heart was in his mouth as they made their way out in the open; one bullet and it would all be over.

Eve remained completely still and quiet as M propped her up against the concrete pillar; it wasn't an ideal position but should provide them both with sufficient cover to survive. He fought off the urge to give into his flashbacks as the gunfire and exploding engine reminded him far too much of war. This was central London for christ's sake.

Gareth checked Eve's pulse properly now they were out of the line of fire; he was relieved to find that her heartbeat was still steady and her only visible wound was the blood trickling slowly down her head. He ducked instinctively as shards of concrete splintered off their pillar; somebody had seen where they were hiding and had started firing on them.

He quickly took out his pistol flicked off the safety and fired shots back in the direction he felt the others had come from. He peered round the pillar to take in the enemy numbers and positions properly and spotted a number of masked men behind vehicles; he fired a few more rounds off at them but disappointingly didn't find his target. His head wound was probably to blame for his off aim; that and the distance between him and the masked men.

The whole area was bloody chaos; people screaming and running from the site of the ambush, gunshots echoing round the concrete square making it sound like the round were coming from everywhere. Most of the vehicles close by were now flaming wrecks; cutting off their escape options. Dead bodies scattered over the pavement, mostly from their security detail. M could only see two guys left on their side who were crouching behind whatever cover they could find under the endless onslaught.

Mallory covered Eve as best he could as more concrete rained down on them; there position had well and truly been compromised. He stared into Eve's face for any sign of her waking but he sighed deeply as he found none. His hearing was finally returning to normal as he heard more shots ping on the ground nearby. He waited for the lull; peeked out round the corner and fired at the approaching men. They both went down.

He looked down at Eve again and realised he needed to move to keep her safe; she was defenceless here and he was clearly drawing the bad guy's fire to their location. He spotted another pillar nearby and without thinking too much on the stupid act fired shots and legged it. M sprinted from pillar to pillar until he had left enough distance between Eve's unconscious body and the bullets targeting him; annoyingly he still had no idea how many assailants there were.

M heard the familiar sound of an empty clip and reached to his ankle for another ammo clip; he slotted it into place and prepared his body to fire at the enemy again. He shook away the remaining fog from his brain and focussed on steadying his breathing. He stood up and leaned out of cover, firing at positions he last saw masked men. The two guys left in the security detail were still pinned down by fire and it looked like they had both taken at least one bullet.

Just before he stepped back into cover he heard approaching footsteps from behind coming in fast. He only managed to half turn back behind the pillar when a colossal force crashed into his side; rugby tackling him with another force to deplete his lungs of air. For the second time that day he was crashing to the ground and his ribs ached under the force of the brutal assault.

Mallory saw stars as his head reverberated off the pavement _again_ and he somehow managed to just keep hold of his pistol. He tried to bring it up to use as a weapon but a strong grip slammed his hand down before he could get far. He felt a knee press into his stomach and groaned as the action made it difficult to breathe.

When he opened his eyes he was once again looking down the barrel of a gun, held by a very irate looking guy wish a mask covering his face. Mallory's mind went blank as his head thudded painfully; it felt like it was going to split open any second. Suddenly the hand holding his wrist squeezed hard and drew blood.

"Drop it." The guy snarled at M digging his knee painfully into his ribs.

M took a few moments to realise that the guy must have been talking about the gun that he was still gripping in his hand, as if that was any use now with a pistol in his face. He released his desperate hold on his gun and it clattered down uselessly. Mallory distantly heard footsteps approaching and realised the surrounding gunshots seemed to have stopped.

"Package acquired." He heard the guy on top of him relay harshly. Mallory could barely concentrate on the gun in his face anymore, he was only just holding onto consciousness.

He started as two sets of boots appeared in his peripheral vision making his situation considerably worse. He had no way out of this mess. _Shit._

Suddenly two shots rang out, one after the other. One of the men went down with a dull thud and a strangled cry. Mallory was grabbed by his shirt and was being pulled up rapidly; his head swam but he still caught the next two shots and heard another man fall. Eventually he was on his feet and had been turned round to face the threat, a heavy arm snaked round his throat only making it more difficult to breathe and fight off the darkness.

He felt incredibly dizzy and saw double of everything but he still saw her, Eve was standing with a gun in her hand, pointed directly at him. No not me, his brain finally started working. It was pointing at the guy who had his pistol pressed into the side of M's head, the man who's arm was doing a damn good job of cutting off his air supply.

Gareth blinked the blood out of his eyes, shook the fog away and concentrated on Eve. It grounded him. She looked professional, cold, detached but Mallory knew her better. He could see she was furious and barely holding it in.

"Drop the gun bitch!" The man holding him rock steady against him yelled, Mallory hated the scumbag even more as his hot breath hit his neck. Annoyingly he was holding him close and keeping his head tucked in; not giving Eve an easy target to hit.

"Not gonna happen." Eve snarled back.

M had seen Eve's gun scores and he trusted her to get him out of this in one piece. He caught her eye and motioned downwards with his own knowing she would get the message. He then held up five fingers which she also caught, 5 seconds.

_5_

He counted down in his head and blocked out the abuse being hurled at both of them; blocked out the way the gun pressed harder into his temple and his body being shaken like a rag doll.

_4_

"Drop the gun!" The guy hollered desperately; tightening his grip on Mallory in the process.

_3_

"Or I'll kill him!" M tensed under the holder causing the hold to tighten.

_2_

The guy shook M's shoulder after the latest frenzied threat. Mallory prepared to carry out the plan.

_1_

As the countdown in his head reached zero he relaxed his muscles and dropped, and went limp. A single shot sounded out a moment later and he felt warm blood spray over his face. He fell backwards as the hand hooked round his neck dragged him downwards at an awkward angle, collapsed in a heap of limbs.

Eve was in his face a moment later pulling him away from his captor with strong arms. He turned to stare at the guy and saw him sprawled out dead on the floor; perfect gunshot to the forehead. Unseeing eyes staring out into nothing.

Mallory shook off the shiver that the dead body induced; he had seen far too much death recently. His searching eyes met Eve's and he took everything in; she didn't seem to be too hurt except from the blood trickling down her face. He noticed she seemed to be favouring one side slightly and frowned as she winced when she moved.

"Are you okay?" He breathed.

She threw him a sardonic smile. "I should be asking you that."

Mallory grinned at her familiar playfulness, they were both still breathing and that was enough for now. They quickly sobered as they heard sirens and remembered exactly where they were and what had just happened.

The pair surveyed the initial ambush site quickly and efficiently but found no signs of life. They were about to make their way over to what remained of the security detail when another black van pulled up with screeching tires. It only took a single glance to realise the guys in the van weren't friendlies; the bad guys had brought in backup. Eve pulled M back quickly and pinned him against a wall out of view.

"We need to get out of here." Her eyes darted around the area and they both galled at the numbers pouring out of the vehicle. They had no chance of holding them back with what little ammo they had left between them.

Mallory realised she was right and that they had to move quickly before the men found their position and stopped any escape path they had available to them; he nodded at her plan and took her hand in his. They both took off at a run in the opposite direction to the carnage; far away from their attackers. It didn't take long before they came across people and they morphed into the London crowd, and they soon became just another couple running away from the gunshots and violence.

"How the hell did they know where we would be, our security protocols?" M muttered angrily as he and Eve walked at a brisk pace, wincing as he dabbed at the wound on his head. His ribs felt sore too and he could feel all the nasty scratches pulling at various parts of his body.

Eve and M glancing backwards intermittently, using shop windows and the like to check for any signs of a tail as discretely as they could. They didn't seem to have any pursuers as of yet.

"We've got a security breach. Again." She hissed back angrily pulling him faster towards a side alley.

The two spies reached the alley and watched for any signs of pursuit for a few minutes. Mallory felt his body tremble as he came down from the adrenaline rush; now they were out of the immediate kill zone his mind was finally starting to work again.

What the hell had just happened? The ambush had been a kidnapping attempt; a damned near successful one at that, the word package left no room for doubt. In the middle of London in broad daylight. It was inconceivable and he was having a hard time getting his head round it.

He realised Eve was right; there were only a few people who knew where they would be and they all worked directly for MI6 or worked with them. If their location had been leaked then what other information was in danger? They couldn't rely on the resources they usually did; not when there was clearly such a huge security breach. He still couldn't really wrap his head around the ambush; they had no chatter all these months then this?

"We can't trust 6." He agreed grimly.

Eve kept a careful watch at the corner of the alley when Mallory realised something important. He pulled out his phone and found the number he was looking for.

"We can't make contact." Eve hissed almost leaving her post to knock the phone out of his hands.

"Bond and Q." Mallory replied firmly and held the phone to his ear.

If Mallory had been almost kidnapped then what about the quartermaster? They had to assume this was the work of imperium and if M's location had been leaked then Q's could have been too. Thankfully the phone didn't ring long before it was answered.

"Bond." The agent answered in a clipped tone. He sounded out of breath which was not a good sign.

"Status?" Mallory barked urgently.

Bond knew what M was asking. "Q's alive, kidnapping attempt. Activating Omega protocol." The words were spoken quickly with a level of detachment Mallory hadn't heard since Bond was on a particularly nasty mission.

He heard loud tyre squealing and distant gun shots on the other end and realised the pair still weren't in the clear. He decided to leave the agent to it; he would get Q to safety.

"Agreed." Mallory replied quickly and shut off the call. He snapped the phone in two, took out the sim card, battery and tossed it down the alley.

Moneypenny eyed him warily and abandoned her lookout post. "What's happened?"

Mallory began to take off his watch which contained a GPS tracker. "They're alive, they tried to kidnap Q."

Eve looked partly relieved but mostly shocked by the news, not quite sure which emotion to latch onto. On the one hand Q should never had to go through another attempted kidnapping, on the other hand Bond was with him and the quartermaster was still breathing.

"Omega protocol." He stated seriously and looked into her eyes.

The Omega protocol was something that the four of them had created after the kidnapping attempt, something only they knew about. It was a paranoid move on Bond's part but after the traitor and this security breach Mallory was glad the agent put it in place. They were to dump all GPS and traceable equipment; get off the grid and meet at a pre-assigned safe house. Eve immediately understood why he had destroyed his phone and was removing his watch. She followed suit, dumped all of her other belongings and took out her pen knife.

"Are you sure about this?" She asked hesitantly as he rolled up his sleeve.

"We need to go completely off grid." He held out his arm towards her.

Eve sighed deeply then gave into his stare; she took a hold of his arm and made a precise incision. Mallory winced as she dug round in the wound as gently as she could manage and pulled out the tracer; he nodded and she then snapped it in two. Mallory took the offered knife from her and waited until she rolled up her sleeves. He mouthed an apology as he sliced into her arm and repeated the procedure; he knew how much it stung having someone reach around in a wound.

Once they had everything that could be used to identify them dumped they left the alley the opposite end they had entered and took each others hand. They blended into the crowds and disappeared.

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**A/N - Next part should be up later today or tomorrow.**

**Until next time...**


	2. Chapter 2

M and Eve arrived at the safe house without any further complications. They had doubled back on themselves multiple times and used other techniques to shake off any tails they may have picked up from their enemies or MI6. When both Eve and Mallory were satisfied they weren't being followed they made the final journey to the pre-arranged meeting location. Eve insisted on going first through the door with her pistol out; M knew better to argue and focussed on covering their backs.

The agents made their way into the empty space silently; clearing each room of the loft as a synchronous team. Only once they were happy that the place was empty they staggered tiredly to the few chairs the place had and collapsed into them. Now the adrenaline was wearing off the effects of the ambush were making themselves known. They both had suffered head injuries and felt sluggish because of it.

M kept his pistol in his hand and watched the door warily; Bond and Q would be entering at any moment and there was every chance they could bring company although M doubted Bond would miss a tail. He still felt on edge in the so-called safe house. If the enemy had found them earlier then who was to say they wouldn't find them here.

Eve noticed his agitation. "We're off the grid Gareth."

M blinked as Eve used his given name; it wasn't often he heard that these days. "Sorry." He smiled effortlessly and made a point of relaxing his grip on the pistol and placing it on the coffee table; making sure it still within reach if needed.

Moneypenny shivered and that was when Mallory realised how chilly the loft was. He supposed the space didn't usually have occupants to keep warm. "I'm going to go and see if I can get the radiators going. Try and find a first aid kit." She instructed.

M was loathe to take his eyes off the front door and Eve noticed. "The door's triple locked, we've got cameras set up over all the entrances and there's motion sensors everywhere. We're secure M."

Mallory had to admit when she spelt it out like that it seemed silly he thought keeping an eye on the door would make any difference; the place was as secure as it could be and he seriously needed to let his senses relax. Being hyper-vigilant was exhausting and did not work well with head wounds. M found a fully stocked first aid kit in the bathroom and met Eve back in the centre of the flat; she had thankfully been able to kick some heat into the room but it would still take a while to heat the large space completely.

They arrived at an impasse as they both reached for things in the first aid kit and realised they would have to patch each other up; Eve clearly wanted to take care of him first but Mallory beat her to the punch. "You first, that's an order."

She scowled at the order and muttered something unintelligible under her breath which hadn't sounded polite. Mallory managed to find a kettle and prepared some warm water; he washed the dried blood away from Eve's face and removed the glass fragments from her side. He realised she had gotten off quite easily considering a car had literally blown up in her face.

Eve soon took hold of the towel and ordered M's shirt off. He smirked childishly at the comment and raised his brows suggestively; Eve flicked him with the towel for the reaction which only served to cause them both to laugh. She cleaned up the various cuts to his face and chest with care and Mallory had to resist the urge to shiver as her soft fingers almost caressed his skin. Soon the injuries were all clean and wrapped and sadly the moment was over. Mallory was just buttoning up his shirt when a loud shrieking alarm made the pair jump out of their skin.

M reached for his gun and held it firmly as he and Eve made their way over to the security system. Mallory breathed out a sigh of relief as he recognised Bond and Q walking along the corridor; there was a third figure that Bond was shoving along. A figure that was tied up with a bag over his head.

"What the hell?" M muttered as he watched the security feed. Who had the agent found?

Mallory and Eve waited near the door with their guns held loosely; whoever that person was with Bond was clearly not on their side and may be a danger to all of them. A few seconds later the door swung open silently and M wasn't surprised to see Bond enter first with his Walther PK raised. The agent's eyes swept round the room in a scrutinising gaze and he lowered the weapon when his eyes met M's.

"It's clear Q."

_Christ._ Bond sounded pissed.

M watched silently as James went out into the corridor and returned with the bundled up captive in his grip; Q followed cautiously afterwards and Eve triple locked the door after them all. Mallory's anxious gaze flicked up and down Q and Bond; this was the first time he had been able to see what damage had been done to his friends. Bond hadn't exactly had the time to reveal details over the phone.

The quartermaster's clothes looked ruffled and were torn in numerous places like he'd been in a scuffle, his face was sooty like he had been around fire too long and there was dried blood sticking his hair to his forehead. Mallory frowned as he noticed Q was holding his left arm awkwardly; it looked like he'd sprained it or dislocated the limb somehow.

M's attention returned to Bond as the agent threw his captive to the floor; the guy landed in a heap at Mallory's feet with a grunt. The 00 agent was sending the struggling prisoner daggers and looked like he seriously wanted to work out some of this rage on the guy.

"Who's this?" M asked partly amused at seeing Bond's methods in person; he usually just read about them in the after mission reports.

Bond shifted his glare from the prisoner at his feet and managed to produce one of his trademark smirks. "A bad guy."

Mallory scoffed and felt a smile tug at his lips. "Well thank god for that." He dead-panned. Gareth took in his agent's condition with a small sweep, Bond bristled as he realised he was being scanned. 007 looked roughed up and was clearly bleeding in a few places but nothing serious; he didn't look any worse than the quartermaster. It looked like they all had got lucky to escape without serious injuries.

"I'm going to take him in the other room." Bond literally growled and roughly dragged the captive up and threw him through the door.

After the brief scuffle the door was slammed shut and the three remaining agents tried to block out the sounds of violence coming from the other side of the door. Mallory could see that Q looked rather uncomfortable with Bond's thirst for vengeance but this wasn't the James he knew, this was 007 and that's what they needed now. M realised that Q had probably never seen Bond like this, not in the flesh it must be a bit of a shock.

They could all hear flesh hitting flesh and the sound of someone being painfully secured. M realised it would probably be a good time to give Q some medical attention and try to take his mind off what was happening, Eve had the same idea and helped steer Q over to their makeshift medical area. The quartermaster remained quiet as Eve helped him down gently and pried his satchel from his limp hands; Q was showing all the signs of shock.

"It's going to be alright Q." Mallory soothed and helped Eve clean the blood and grime off his face; whatever had happened with Bond and the kidnapping attempt had shaken Q up.

"They nearly killed James." Q whispered suddenly.

Mallory and Eve shared a concerned glance as they both heard their friend's voice shake; the best thing would be to encourage Q to talk about what had happened so his brain could process it.

"What happened Q?" Eve asked kindly and dabbed at another cut with the warm cloth.

Q didn't even react to the touch, his eyes looked distant. "They were going to shoot him, I had to stop them."

M's concern was growing the more he heard but Q was still muttering so he daren't interrupt.

"I pushed James out of the way, nearly got shot. He was so angry I got hurt."

Mallory realised now why 007 had looked so enraged when he had entered the apartment and the unusual distance between the two. He realised Q was clutching his arm protectively and saw from this distance that it was definitely dislocated, setting it would hurt like a bitch but it had to be done.

"That's how you hurt your arm?" Eve asked attempting to bring Q's attention back to the present and out of the past.

Q started as if he were awaking from a dream and looked down at the limb he was holding. "Yeah." His voice sounded less distant which was a plus.

They all heard a muffled scream come from the room next door which caused Q to wince. "Are we really going to let him do this?

Mallory felt rotten about the situation but the guy Bond was interrogating would have killed the agent and kidnapped Q; the sad fact was they didn't know anything about Imperium so if the kidnapper was the only link then they had to utilise it.

"We don't have a choice Q." M replied grimly. He trusted Bond not to take it too far, the agent knew the rules and limits. "We need information that that man has, all of us and MI6 won't be safe until we take Imperium down."

Q couldn't tear his eyes away from the door so Mallory decided to distract the quartermaster; he grabbed a chair and pulled up besides Q. He gently took hold of the quartermaster's arm and planned how he was going to manipulate the limb; he caught Eve's eye and was thankful she had caught on to what he was about to do. Moneypenny held Q's other arm lightly and pressed her body into his so he wouldn't have the opportunity to scamper away.

"Sorry Q this is going to hurt." Mallory grabbed Q's arm strongly and pushed hard.

"Wha-" The question died on Q's lips as his shoulder was manipulated back into place; he gasped out loudly when fire raced up his arm. He hadn't felt this kind of pain since he was shot which was unfortunately in the same shoulder; he was pretty sure it was making the dislocation 10 times worse.

Q breathed deeply as the pain subsided and realised strong hands were holding him upwards; he glared at Mallory who just shrugged apologetically.

"Sorry Q, had to be done."

"You couldn't have given me any warning?" Q hissed with heat as let go of the rest of the pain; he had to admit his shoulder felt a lot better now the burning was subsiding although he imagined it would still be sore for a few days.

"It's better if you don't see it coming." Eve replied for their boss and shoved a glass of water into his hand; she then popped some pills from a pack and passed them over. "Here, take these."

Q didn't question what exactly he was taking; as long as they helped with the pain he frankly didn't care. He saw Mallory jump out of the corner of his eye and realised why as he turned his head to where M had stared; Bond had entered the room.

James' concerned gaze fell on him and Q watched his partner calm down considerably when he saw that Q was alive and well. Q glanced past Bond and grimaced as he glimpsed the captive with a hell of a lot of blood over his face; the kidnapper looked unconscious. 007 stepped out of the room fully and carefully closed the door behind him; his facial expression unreadable as he stalked over to Q.

Q distantly heard M and Eve excusing themselves from the space so it wasn't long before it was just James and Q in the living area; Eve passed James a makeshift sling as she went which the agent took gratefully. Q remained silent and tried to ignore the blood splattered over his partner's knuckles as James poked and prodded his shoulder to make sure the limb was properly back in place. Q couldn't help but wince and hiss as Bond jarred the joint putting the sling on, but soon after the burning receded and with the limb supported it hardly caused any distress.

They sat quietly for a few moments and Q heard M and Eve busy themselves with the security system and provisions in one of the other rooms. Q was glad for the alone time with James but he didn't know what to say; he knew he had reacted badly out in the field. He had let personal emotions cloud his judgement and it had almost got him killed.

_It saved James though._

That was the only saving grace in the whole situation although James wouldn't see it that way; he was furious that Q had put himself in the line of fire but really how could he not? Q was not used to field work which was painstakingly obvious by the way he was reacting to Bond questioning the kidnapper; if he had been in Q branch on the other end of a microphone then he wouldn't have thought twice about it. This was what Bond did on a regular basis, There was something different about seeing it for real though; seeing another human being suffer. He wasn't cut out for this, how the hell did Bond do it?

"I know why you did it." James eventually muttered. All the anger had drained out of his voice and the agent now just sounded drained. "Doesn't mean I approve, but I get it."

Q smiled as he deciphered his partner's words. This was as close to an apology he was going to get from the 00 agent about the way he reacted after Q threw his body in front of a bullet for him. He leaned into James outstretched arm and rested his head against his partner's chest; concentrating on the steady heartbeat beneath that always grounded him.

"I'm sorry for worrying you. I would do it again though." Q wasn't going to lie to James, he would do it all over again without a moment's hesitation.

James gripped Q a little harder as if he were afraid to let go. "I know. You bloody idiot." The words held no heat.

Q scoffed at the insult and felt the odd urge to laugh; he was sure his mind was having a hard time processing the intense emotions of the last hour. Perhaps laughing was better than crying. The quartermaster suddenly sobered when he spotted the blood on Bond's hands again; it brought him back to the horrible nightmare they were living in. Q continued to stare at James' hands and wondered how they could so gentle with him and still be capable of torturing someone.

He reluctantly pulled himself away from his partner's chest and looked him in the eye. "Do you have to do this?"

James looked regretful but resolute, his eyes drifted to the door containing the kidnapper and Q almost flinched at the hardness that appeared in Bond's face. "I can't let them hurt you anymore Q. Enough is enough. Imperium is too dangerous, we need this information."

Q didn't like hearing those words but he knew that James was right; blood sometimes had to be spilt and good people had to get their hands bloody. It was just a shame that James had to be the one to do it. Q noticed that Mallory and Eve were setting up some laptops and monitors and realised there might be something he could do after all. There was every chance he could find more information about Imperium, he had leads he could follow from both attempted kidnapping attempts; perhaps someone had been sloppy planning them.

"I'm going to se if I can find fresh intel." Q put the man in the other room out of his mind and focussed his head on a problem he could solve; he would be able to focus properly when he was in front of a keyboard again.

"That sounds good Q. If you find anything come and get me." James kissed the top of Q's head warmly before his face clouded over and he became the agent again.

Q watched James walk away from him and towards his duty; wishing once more that it didn't have to be this way but knowing that James had to do this. Q sighed sadly and looked away before he became too melancholy. Q stood and made his way over to the makeshift office space excitement to get back online already lifting his mood and the prospect of a challenge distracting him from the shocks of the morning.

M and Eve helped him setup a temporary work station as Q quickly found his injured arm getting in the way and he found it difficult to hold too much with it; he was going to have to learn to type single-handedly quickly or the sling would have to go. Q was pretty sure it was going to be the sling but he would have to keep it on for a while otherwise Eve and Mallory would fuss and James would go mad. So Q struggled on with one hand and got to work.

Q didn't know how long had passed since he last saw James, he only knew that two cups of tea had appeared in front of him and had been drained during that time and he had actually made some progress and found a few leads. It had taken a bit longer to set up a secure network connection with the equipment they had in the safe house, he would probably need to persuade Bond to let him out of the house to get more if they wanted Imperium found before the year was out.

They had all tried to blot out the sounds of pounding flesh and grunts of pain from the other room, Q rarely noticed the commotion unless there was a particularly loud scream. Otherwise he was too busy caught up in his work to notice; he realised it probably sounded callous but really the faster he did found out what they needed to know the quicker Bond could stop the interrogation. Eve had tried to distract him once or twice when the sounds got louder and Q noticed suddenly that Mallory wasn't in the room. Eve then told him that M had been in the room with Bond for hours. Q hadn't even noticed.

Eve had scolded him the moment she realised he had ditched the sling. In fairness he had tried to type single-handedly for a whole half hour but it had quickly gotten old and Q would rather work through the pain than live with the snail-pace.

Q's attention remained on the screens until he heard approaching footsteps, he recognised that it was Bond before he looked around and realised perhaps he was finally picking up some of the skills James had been trying to teach him. He smiled warmly and met his partner's gaze happy to see the agent again especially now he had time to process and get over the shock of the morning's events.

The smile slid off his face as his eyes fell upon James' stony face, and he saw the bruised knuckles and blood splattering the agent's hands. He was still in agent mode and from Q's experience this wouldn't wear off until some time after the interrogation; right now he needed professional Quartermaster not his partner Q.

"Q." Bond nodded at him curtly and joined him and Eve in the makeshift work area, Mallory soon followed and they were all sitting round for an impromptu debrief.

007 jumped into the debrief and explained everything that he had learned from their guest. Q and Eve made notes as Bond revealed key details about Imperium's plans. They were planning major terrorist strikes across the globe to destabilise stock markets, Q understood that if anyone knew the outcome in advance they would make billions in such a shake up.

He also pressed the kidnapper for hours about why they wanted Q and M so badly, what they needed with project Eureka and where they were based. Bond indicated that the guy had been difficult to break and Q winced as he remembered the haunting screams. The kidnapper was just a low level employee but knew enough to be a danger to Imperium and Bond had sniffed that out, he kept on pressing the man until he finally told them that Imperium needed Eureka to put their final plans in motion. Hence their obsession with Q, and he had managed to get coordinates out of the kidnapper when he started being more open.

At this point James passed Q a piece of scrap paper with coordinates scribbled down, Q ignored the red stains on the paper and immediately pulled up a view of the location on the big screen.

When James finished his debrief everyone looked at the information Q was bringing up rapidly on the screens, all the details Bond was giving him were in the filling in the gaps he had been missing. It was like being suddenly given all the puzzle pieces when he had only been working with a handful before.

"What are we going to do about our friend in there?" Eve asked.

Bond shrugged his shoulders lightly clearly not that interested in the fate of the man who had tried to kidnap Q. "He isn't going anywhere. I've given him enough sedative to knock him out for at least a day. We can message a clean up team to come in once we vacate and we know what we're doing."

Mallory nodded thoughtfully in agreement. "It's the safest option."

Q groaned as he ran out of screens to project things on, Eve snickered and Bond grinned at his partner. The quartermaster had been spoiled in Q branch. The four agents surveyed the overwhelming amount of new data and realised they were ill-equipped to deal with the situation as it stood.

"We need a plan." Mallory pointed out.

"We need weapons." James added with a mischievous spark in his eye, if there was anything 007 loved more than cars it was a big gun.

"I need more hardware." Q groaned miserably as the laptop struggled to handle all the data and tasks he was throwing at it.

Eve's face lit up with a genuine smile that lifted the mood of the room. "Let's go shopping."


	3. Chapter 3

The four agents gathered round the table behind Q's impressive work station. He had a set up which closely rivalled his usual digs at Q-branch; it was a lot more messy and temporary of course but he could do just about anything with the equipment he had, which was why he had insisted on all of it. Bond had not enjoyed lugging the stuff up the stairs but Q had lovingly told him that his skills were best used for the grunt work. James hadn't taken it too well and promised retribution when this was all over. Weirdly Q was looking forward to the revenge, it would mean that the serious problems they faced would be over.

Q pulled up all the feeds he had with a few commands on the keyboard, his fingers flew over the device and soon everyone was overwhelmed by the amount of information that was fighting for their attention. With the information that Bond had found plus Q's own research there was suddenly a flood of intel and Q could finally pinpoint Imperium's headquarters. He had a feed of the compound up on one of the screens, live footage from whatever satellites he could get into and archived footage. He also had floor plans, transport schedules, heat maps, numerous blueprints for different out stations.

When Mallory had questioned how he was getting the information Q had replied honestly saying that his boss really didn't want to know. James had found the remark very amusing and correctly assumed that Q had broken countless laws from numerous countries; Mallory had then put his fingers in his ears and walked away before he found out more secrets that he really didn't want to know.

Bond was busy cleaning the last of the weapons he had managed to acquire, Q wasn't exactly sure where Bond had found such a huge cache of weapons. Especially as they hadn't come from MI6, they were all off the record. Q soon realised it was best not to ask questions and he didn't really care too much where James had got the arsenal as long as it all worked as intended; he supposed that was why 007 was checking over each piece of equipment and gun personally. M treated the huge pile of weapons the same way he'd treated Q's acquisition of knowledge and simply walked away from it, denying he had ever seen how Bond could get his hands on enough guns to equip a small army.

The table was silent for quite some time as they all ingested the print outs Q had made, he had highlighted the important information they all needed to plan an assault and he was pointing out the layout of the compound on his screens. They had all decided pretty early on that they were going to handle this problem alone; clearly MI6 still had a security breach so it was safer for everyone to handle this in house. They just had to come up with a good enough plan to not get everyone killed.

Q switched the view to thermal and showed a time lapse of the last 6 months. They all watched as patterns emerged and the number of people in the compound grew. From the sentry like paths they could make educated guesses who were guards or security for the place.

"That's a lot of bodies." Bond muttered cautiously.

For 007 to say that there was a lot of people was saying something. 007 was an expert in playing against the odds but even for him the situation looked like suicide, they would need to plan carefully.

Q pointed out the three main areas of interest where the most people congregate at different times of the day; from the archived satellite footage he could put together a pretty good picture of schedules and security patrols. Q pointed out an area in the centre which lit up the thermal maps like a christmas tree, it had to be the server room and the heart of the operation.

"That's where I need to be. I can find out how far Imperium spreads from inside their network and shut it all down." Q smiled at the thought of it, finally he would be able to deliver some payback the way he knew how.

He was feeling the familiar thrill of excitement that came with an op; he usually got lost within the planning and execution for days and there was nothing better than watching it all go off without a hitch. He hoped their plan would be enough this time, he was well aware that he was the one they would all be relying on. His hacking skills were what would take down an organisation as fortified as Imperium, people really did underestimate the power of the computer these days. He had once told Bond that he could do more damage from his laptop in one morning than 007 could do in the field in a whole year and hadn't just been showing off. Technology controlled everything in this age so the person who could control technology was king.

Q stopped his ramblings about what he was actually going to do to Imperium's network when Bond interrupted. "Why exactly do you have to be in there?" Q could tell from James' tone that he was not at all happy with his partner's plan.

Q wasn't exactly jumping with joy at the idea of going there in person but it had to be done. "It would take days to break through their firewalls. They would be alerted, fortified and we wouldn't get a chance like this agin. I need to plug in directly."

Bond huffed as Q explained exactly why he wasn't going to sit this one out. They all knew it would happen regardless of what 007 thought, Q was the only one with the technical know how to achieve what they needed to.

"If that's where you need to be then we're going to need a distraction." M pointed out as he pointed to the layout of the compound. "Something to draw security away from where we're really attacking."

"Hopefully they won't be too prepared for an attack. They've likely been relying on sources in the past to know exactly what the security services are doing. They probably won't be counting on 4 spies trying to stage an assault."

Everyone grinned at Q's assessment. Hell they wouldn't expect this; not many people were even alive that had the technical know how to do what Q was suggesting, Q was not many people though. Their plan was so mad that it might just work.

Eve grabbed a machine gun from the pile and grinned at Mallory. "Looks like we'll be the two man army then."

"That's not happening." Bond growled and the room was aware of the tension rising.

The double agent was clearly not happy with Moneypenny's idea of her and M distracting the entire compound single-handedly. Bond was one of those people who preferred to be on the front line and definitely be where the shooting was. Usually that coincided with the critical point in a mission, not this time. Q was well aware that he was the critical point in this mission and whilst that would have thrown many men off Q welcomed it. He had often produced his best work under pressure.

M however pulled rank and tried to ease the tenseness in the room. "I know you like to be the center of attention 007, but we need you with Q."

Bond turned his glare on Mallory as he continued to hear what he didn't agree with. He didn't want to sit back and listen to his friends die. "I outrank you Bond." Mallory pushed as he realised 007 wasn't conceding.

"This isn't exactly an official mission sir." Q shivered at how cold and bitter James had sounded. He was more pissed off than the quartermaster had predicted.

M sighed heavily then tried a different tact. "The success of the mission rests on his shoulders and he needs the best protecting him. He needs you."

Q smirked as he watched Mallory's words broke through James' thick skull. He hadn't expected M to bring their relationship and feelings into play but it had been the smart move, and the thing that finally pushed Bond to understand he needed to be by Q's side. Q knew that even though James had pushed back against M and Eve going off on their own it was because he was worried about them. If he could he was sure 007 would fight on both fronts, his inherit need to protect people

Q's smirk remained even when James looked up sheepishly at him. They both knew Bond would never leave Q's side anyway as really the double 0 didn't trust anyone but himself to protect the one he loved the most.

The quartermaster took pity on his boyfriend and decided to move the plan along, highlighting footage and time cycles. "We should go in at dawn, it's when the compound is at it's quietest. It also coincides with a morning truck delivery. That's our entry point.

The agents in the room hung off his every word and Q suddenly had a sense of deja-vu, he really thought they had just been in Q-branch planning out an op. Funny how his mind had taken him there, it was probably a good thing he was falling back into the familiar rhythm.

He reeled off all the information about the security he had found, fences, cameras, motion detectors and the like. "We aren't likely to make it very far out of the van without being spotted by something. From what I can tell they're going to have communication jammers."

"How do you know that?" Eve questioned.

"I found the order online." Q smirked and pulled it up on the screen which caused Bond to bark a laugh.

"Any chance of you being able to turn off or loop their security feeds before we go in?" M asked in a concerned tone, clearly concurring with Q about the time it would take to get noticed.

"I could, but they would know that I'd done it after a minute. The charade wouldn't last." Q scowled at his computers as if he was blaming them for the problem.

"It wouldn't need to, whatever could buy us time." Eve answered for all of them, digging Q out of his negativity before he drowned in it.

"Okay I can work on that." Q made a few notes in another window and started typing away in a background application.

Bond studied the route the truck would take and the compound layout carefully and pointed out a spot produced by his tactical mind. "Q and I will bail out here."

There was a hum of agreement around the room as they all saw that it was the best balance of cover and reduced guard movement.

"And we'll head out when the truck comes to a stop, and cause a distraction." Mallory actually looked excited about the prospect of his mission; Q didn't understand everyone's obsession with field work. He was much happier behind a keyboard safe at home.

Eve placed markers on the map of Q and Bond's exfiltration and where her and M would get out. The plan was all coming together before their eyes.

"Far away from us, good." Bond looked happier now they were getting decisions made and he could begin to formulate the logistics of the assault in his mind. "It's going to have to be a big distraction, to keep their eyes off us whilst I get Q inside."

Eve grinned widely and picked up one of the grenades from the center of the table. "Oh, it'll be big."

* * *

It wasn't long before their plan was put in motion. Bond and M had to both shed their usual suits to change into dark protective combat gear and bulletproof vests. 007 had scowled when M ordered him to change into the kit, the agent had argued that he had always managed just fine on his missions whilst wearing a suit.

"Just fine, is that what you call collapsed buildings and almost starting a civil war in each country you visit." Mallory dead-panned in an accusing tone.

He ought to have known how most of 00's missions ended as he was the one who had to read the damn reports with a straight face and deal with all the diplomatic repercussions from the inevitable disasters. 007 always got the job done but the amount of collateral damage seemed to depend on the agent's mood at the time and no scolding from M or suspension sentence had deterred James Bond.

Bond scowled at the kit for a few minutes but eventually relented to the insistence from not just Mallory but Q and Eve also. Q had pointed out that even he was changing his usual mission attire and donning the black vests, James had lovingly pointed out that his quartermaster was hardly sacrificing style as he only usually wore cardigans. Eve had to step in before the two were at each other's throats physically. Mallory was actually a little disappointed, he was more than a just little intrigued to see who would come out on top of that particular scuffle.

They had all discussed and agreed that they would call in for MI6 backup as soon as the alarms were raised at the compound. It wouldn't matter then if there was another mole, the plan would already be in motion.

The plan carried on as intended and the foursome geared up and headed out in the middle of the night. They made short work of tracking down the truck that would enter the compound in the morning, it was almost too easy to sneak into the back of the truck and hide themselves away from sight. They were in a perfect position to jump out at their planned points.

Mallory looked round at his companions and realised everyone seemed far calmer than they should be, for what they were about to face they should have been breaking down and running for the hills. But each of them sat there silently and got their heads into the right frame of mind for the mission. M looked down at his hand and was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't shaking; he hadn't been on an active op for some time and he probably should be more fearful. Maybe they were all just thankful that no what matter happened today it would be over for them, this whole nightmare, one way or another.

It was only when the truck neared the entrance and they all prepared themselves for the kick-off that Mallory questioned everything they were about to do.

_What the hell are we doing? This is bloody madness…_

M swallowed down the nerves and steadied his trembling hand. Of all the times to feel this it had to happen when it was too late to turn back. Mallory watched the passing world from their hiding place, they all tensed and had their fingers on triggers as the van slowly made it's way past the security checkpoint. So far the truck had followed the route to the letter and the compound was as quiet as it should be. No alarm bells were ringing but they were all about to enter the jaws of the enemy and it wouldn't take much for the situation to turn to hell in a hand-basket.

After a few tense moments the truck was waved through security and it moved onwards. Q and James took their cue to move forwards ready to jump out, M nodded at both his agents and wished them luck before they tumbled out of view in a blind spot. Bond rolled and landed perfectly whilst Q stumbled and had to be grabbed by James before he made too much noise. Mallory would have laughed if the situation weren't so serious.

Gareth fought against his raging heart rate and the ever-increasing nerves, if he was honest he felt sick to his stomach. It was all too real now, there was no going back. Q and James were relying on them. He suddenly felt a hand in his and almost jumped out of his skin. Eve giggled at his reaction and M revelled in the sound, for it could be the last time he heard that.

_No, stop out. You will all get out of here. You have to._

Inner pep talk complete he turned to look at his partner and took a hold of her hand in return, they squeezed each other's hands warmly and felt their heart rate increase as the truck slowed. The thought ran through his head again that this was bloody stupid and dangerous but he had to trust in their plan. They were through the looking glass now.

The truck's engine turned off so M and Eve moved towards the back of the truck and waited for the driver to disappear.

"Good luck." Eve whispered into his ear warmly, kissed him on the cheek and leapt out into the shadows.

Mallory relished the warmth of her lips on his cheek and watched her go. He took a deep breath and began counting down from 5 in his head before he too jumped out into the unknown.

* * *

Ear-splitting alarms blared loudly as explosions rocked the walls making the whole building feel like it was going to collapse. Mallory pulled the pin out of a grenade and peeked out of cover to lob the thing as far as he could in the direction of the enemy down the corridor. It exploded a few moments later sending burning shrapnel in all directions and causing a few cries of pain. He used the distraction to sprint away from the approaching guards and gripped the machine gun tighter in his sweaty grip. He was fast running out of ammo for the weapon and that had been his last grenade, he was beginning to run out of options.

He raced round the corner and ducked as bullets ricocheted and splintered concrete right next to his head. His heart was pumping loudly and he felt adrenaline race through his body spurring him on away from the danger, the cacophony in his head reached a crescendo as more klaxons echoed through the compound.

The corridors flashed red which perfectly reflected the mood and the danger they were all in. The emergency lighting flashed on and off as he ran for his life, giving the place an eerie effect. The power had gone out soon after the fighting had started; someone, maybe even him, had clearly damaged the power lines in the compound.

M hadn't heard from Bond, Eve or Q in 5 minutes. Soon after the first explosions and gunfire kicked off armed guards poured out of the doors and started hunting down the intruders. As they had planned for and expected the comms soon blacked out after the firefight started and M and Eve made contact with the enemy. The agents had all synchronised their watches on the truck journey and Q had estimated how long it would take to get control of the servers once Bond got him into position. According to M's watch, Bond and Q should already be at the heart of the compound and starting to take control of the systems.

He poked his head round the corner and fired the gun at any thing that moved. M had to think about what he was going to do when his ammo ran out, he had been trying to strike a delicate balance between running and shooting so he kept the men moving away from Bond and Q whilst remaining unharmed. _Click._ So much for that plan.

Mallory scowled at his weapon and threw it on the floor angrily. He was completely out of clips so it was useless to him now. M pulled his pistol out and retreated down the corridor, shooting behind him to provide some sort of cover. His senses were on high alert and it was maybe because of this that he ducked just as he reached a corner, his instincts were screaming at him to get down so he listened to them without hesitation.

He realised it wasn't a moment too soon as he actually felt bullets fly over him that very nearly impacted into his neck. M rolled as he fell and thumped against the far wall in a heap. That had been far too close for comfort, he needed to find a better position quickly.

Mallory's brain reeled through his limited options in a micro second and he calculated that he could only go in one direction and that was backwards. _Shit_, he was boxed in from the front and the sides and completely trapped. He backed up as he scrambled away from the approaching men, eventually his back hit a wall and he knew there was no where else to go. He leaned into a pillar which just about gave him enough cover to protect his body if he stood sideways, barely though.

He glanced a look from behind his new found cover and immediately pulled back as more shots flew his way which slammed into the concrete around him. Gareth had spotted at least half a dozen men bearing down on his position, all fully equipped with tactical gear and very well armed. Mallory gritted his teeth as their continued gunfire pinned him down, he was trying to think of a way out of this situation but his mind was drawing a blank. This was literally a dead end.

The walls shook around him and he felt the floor rumble, it sounded like an explosion had gone off in the distance. Eve was clearly still holding out and sounded like she was doing better than Mallory. He heard footsteps getting too close so he swung his arm out and fired his pistol desperately, hoping to hit as many bodies as he could with his dwindling ammunition. He heard the satisfying sound of two bodies falling with a dull thud before suddenly fire laced up his arm and his fingers spasmed and let go of the gun. He grabbed his arm with the other and hissed as felt the torn flesh; warm blood trickled through his fingers confirming his suspicion. He had been hit.

Before he had a chance to figure out how on earth he was going to get to his carelessly dropped pistol without being shot to bits; he heard a clunk and his eyes widened as he spotted a flash bang roll towards his feet. His mind raced at a million miles an hour but it wasn't quick enough to solve the problem, the grenade exploded right at his feet. Blinding white light flashed everywhere and he lost sense of which way was up and where he even was. M lost his sight, hearing and balance next. A fierce ringing assaulted his head and he stumbled outwards trying to latch onto any solid surface completely forgetting where he was.

Suddenly a colossal force stole his breath and felt himself fall as the figure at his waist tackled him bodily to the ground. M tried to scramble out of the hold but all thoughts of counter-attack stopped when his head collided harshly with the cold ground. He felt multiple sets of hands on him which held him down whilst more hands removed his remaining ammo and knife.

Mallory's vision was just beginning to clear when the hands gripped his vest tightly and he found himself being dragged upwards, sending his head spinning once more. His arms were held behind his back firmly and when he tried to test the strength of the men holding him by pulling he got hit round the back of the head for his troubles. M grunted as the heavy blow landed and would have been crashing to the ground again if his arms weren't being held painfully tightly. The pounding in his head got a whole lot worse when a flash light was shined directly in his face. He squinted against the offending light and just about saw past the brightness to see lots of angry looking weapons pointing at him. _Bugger._

"Where are the others?" Mallory placed the voice to the one holding the flash light, he sounded seriously pissed and he could see blood on the guy's face which Mallory had probably inflicted either directly or indirectly during his assault. It was probably why he was fuming.

Gareth feigned ignorance. "What others?"

The bad guy's face hardened and he balled up a fist to sucker-punch Mallory in the gut. M coughed at the harsh impact and he tried to double over to get his breath back. His lungs remained starved as the two hands held him firmly upright. Gareth braced for another hit and was confused when one never came. He glanced up at his attacker who was scrutinising his victim carefully.

They all started as they heard deafening gunfire some distance away followed by some nasty sounding explosions. Four of the men were soon ordered to go and help on the other side of the compound and search for more intruders. M got the impression that their monitoring equipment wasn't helping them find anything or anyone, thank god for Q.

Mallory remained tense as his attacker glared at him for a few moments as if he was deciding his fate then and there. "The boss wants to see him." He eventually growled and indicated at M.

It didn't take a genius to see that the man would have preferred to put a bullet through his head, his finger was twitching on the trigger and everything. Eventually the leader turned and walked away from M and his captors.

Mallory winced as the hands holding him gripped his arms tighter and started dragging him forward. The butt of a rifle was jammed painfully into his back which stalled any attempts of breaking free before they really started. He glanced down at his arm and was relieved to see it didn't seem to be bleeding too much, the pain had mostly died away now and it looked like it was just a graze. He had been lucky so far but M couldn't help but shake the feeling that his luck was fast running out.


	4. Chapter 4

M was frog-marched along the corridors he had blown apart with bullets and grenades minutes earlier, before he had been so spectacularly captured. To be honest he was surprised the guards hadn't killed him when they threw the flash bang, someone in charge for whatever reason wanted him alive. Mallory watched carefully for a way out of the situation but found none as the men holding him kept their grips tight and he could feel the gun still pressed into his back. For now he was going where they dragged him.

It didn't take long before they reached a door which had a guard outside. The guard looked them all over then entered a code into the door's keypad which turned green to allow them access. Mallory was dragged into the office space roughly whilst the gun that had been pressed into his back was now out in the open and tracking his movements carefully.

He was pulled to a stop just shy of a mahogany desk in the spacious office; he resisted the urge to wince as his arms were damned nearly pulled out of their sockets. His eyes landed on the only other occupant of the room and his senses screamed to him that the man was dangerous.

The man behind the desk had had his back to the newcomers so at first Mallory only saw the back of his head, but there was something about the way the man held himself that was setting off alarm bells. The mysterious person finally turned and M's eyes were drawn to the scarred and hardened face. This man had seen military action at some point in his life, hence the stance. He was strongly built and dressed immaculately in a expensive suit. Mallory was drawn to the man's piercing eyes most of all and nearly shivered when he saw the anger blazing in them. Funnily enough he actually reminded M of Bond.

The extravagant office and expensive looking suit pointed to this man being in charge of something here, maybe the whole operation. The boss eventually smiled although Gareth could tell it was completely superficial. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you M."

Mallory scoffed, the guy was really going all super evil villain on him. "The pleasure is all yours."

The man's smiled grew with the comment not allowing it to phase him in any way. He then ordered the guard that had been aiming a gun at him to get out and help take back control of central HQ. Ah that would explain the thunderous expression. Q was obviously causing quite a lot of damage. _Good for him._

The guy glared at M one more time then left closing the door behind him, leaving just the two guys holding his arms behind his back tightly and the boss. Mallory liked those odds better and there didn't seem to be too many firearms in the mix.

The boss stalked towards M, coming round the side of the desk. "Is it Q that's in my system?"

Gareth smiled slyly and moved his eyes towards the clock, another minute and Q's estimate would be up. Q was rarely wrong with estimates at the very least he had already committed a hell of a lot of damage and soon it would be irreversible.

The boss's fake smile fell and anger clouded his face; he really didn't appreciate M's cavalier attitude. Without any further warning a pistol was suddenly heading straight towards Mallory's face and his nose exploded in agony as the unforgiving metal smashed against his face. He groaned and feigned the assault did worse damage than it had, slumping dramatically in his captor's arms. Luckily the idiots fell for his weakness and loosened their grip after his sudden drop.

Mallory broke free of the loosened hold and broke the first guy's wrist in a swift remorseless movement, he pushed him into the boss who was already raising his gun to stop Mallory's sudden attack. At the same time he slammed his boot deep into the second guy's ankle causing him to stumble away screaming. M wasted no time in grabbing the nearest thing in his vicinity which turned out to be a chair, and slammed it over the second guy's head who was still struggling to his feet. The chair smashed apart completely and he went down hard.

M whipped round as he heard a commotion and saw that the guy he had thrown at the boss was disentangling himself. Mallory panicked and sprinted up to him to kick him hard in the head. The guy was out like a light before his head hit the ground. Mallory felt his heart drop as he saw the pistol come up towards his face; he ducked and ran full pelt into the boss grunting as he impacted the heavy guy with a rugby tackle. The pistol went flying from the boss's grip and landed far away with a distant clatter.

They both went crashing to the floor knocking aside everything in their path as they fell entangled in one another. M had the upper hand as he was on top and fought to keep it that way. He quickly adjusted his position to pin his opponent down and aimed a fist at the guy's head to try and end this before it even began. Unluckily for him the boss had regained his senses and brought up his arms to stop the blow from connecting with his head.

Before Mallory realised what was happening a colossal force crashed into his chest and he was suddenly flying backwards off his attacker; he flailed and landed heavily in a heap his breath leaving him for a second. M sprang back to his feet the same time as his attacker and realised perhaps his best strategy was to stall, if he couldn't incapacitate him that was.

"You've already lost." Gareth taunted the boss, hoping he would lash out and come close enough for Mallory to knock him out. They were currently warily circling one another wondering who was going to make the first aggressive move.

"Impossible." The boss spat looking furious.

Mallory glanced at the clock against the far wall, he grinned as he saw the time and realised Q's damage would be irreversible by now. "By now Q has full control and has completely disabled your network. He will be taking your entire organisation down piece by piece."

"You're lying." The boss sneered but lost the confident stance and his eyes flicked to his computer which would tell him if M was lying or not.

M grinned at the amount of unease he was causing. He didn't care if the guy believed that his organisation was doomed, the point was that he knew Q would have carried out the plan perfectly. "He's sending agents out all over the globe to tear apart everything you've ever owned. You shouldn't have messed with us."

The boss stopped circling and halted it in his tracks. Mallory tensed as he prepared for an assault, thankfully none came but the tension remained. Gareth's mind was racing as he looked around the vicinity for a weapon anything he could use as an advantage to end this fight. There was nothing he could see which he could get to before the guy was upon him so this would have to be hand to hand for now.

"No-one's that good."

Mallory had seen first hand what his quartermaster could do. It always amazed him how many people underestimated the young man, it was probably to do with his age. "Q is."

His opponent actually roared with anger and without warning was charging at Mallory like a freight train. M calculated that he was out of time to move out of the way so he braced his body as best he could for the impact, digging his legs into the ground to hold his ground. It wasn't much use. The guy hit him with the force of a horse and they both flew backwards and crashed through a table. M groaned as the wood splintered under him and scratched at his body.

Fists were raining down on his face all of a sudden and he fought to get his arms up to defend his head. His limbs were batted away time and time again and the boss's vicious assault continued, fists finding his jaw and nose again and again. Mallory tasted blood and saw stars with each impact, he realised he needed to get out from under his opponent quickly before he blacked out.

With enormous effort Mallory managed to unhook his leg and gain enough leverage to roll and shove his opponent off him, unfortunately he didn't go far enough so it wasn't long before they were at each other's throats again, literally. M had just sat up when his opponent threw his body at him and reached for his throat. Mallory grabbed at the hands around his neck and tried unsuccessfully to break the hold. He struggled to his knees and placed his own hands around his opponent's neck squeezing with all his might.

He started to see black spots in his vision when thankfully his attacker ran out of air and let go of M's throat to shove him away. They both fell backwards away from each other and gasped for air. Mallory breathed in deeply and crawled away from the broken remains of the table, he wanted to put as much distance as he could between him and the crazed man. His opponent was very well trained and bloody strong, it would be hard to take him down without some kind of weapon.

Gareth glanced over at his opponent and saw that he was still recovering his breath and watching his opponent warily. M got to his feet and leaned against the desk, keen to put an object between him and the heavily built boss. His curiosity got the better of him and he realised this might be his only chance to find out why all this happened in the first place, why Imperium kidnapped him and Q. The questions had plagued them them both for months.

"You weren't even on our radar, why risk everything for Eureka?" M managed to wheeze between coughs.

The boss had also staggered to his feet and was busy wiping away blood from his mouth with a scowl on his face. "We needed it to truly have control."

M shook his head and laughed, really it was all so transparent in the end. "You mean you got greedy."

The boss barked a dark laugh and sneered at M. "It's called ambition."

Mallory had been watching his opponent carefully and was prepared for the charging tackle this time, he easily sidestepped the attack and brought his fist round to connect harshly with the back of the guy's head. M felt elated as he watched the guy stumble and fall, Mallory rushed forward and went to kick his opponent in the head with the hopes of knocking him out. M's smile was eradicated as his foot was caught in his attackers grasp and the guy twisted nastily, causing Mallory to crash to the ground with a scream of agony.

M felt the tendons in his ankle and lower leg twist and burn like fire. He managed to snatch the limb back and stagger a few paces away from his attacker so thankfully there was no immediate follow up. Mallory bit back another yell and hauled himself to his feet, cursing that his leg was now a hinderance and weakness in this fight. It hurt like hell and wasn't supporting him like it should. The boss rose to his feet and his eyes lit up with joy as he spotted Mallory's weakness. He looked like a shark who had just smelt first blood.

The boss's smirk grew and so did his confidence as he stalked closer to M, playing with his weakened prey. "I have contacts, there's no way you'd be able to pull this off."

It was M's turn to be confident and have something to smile about. Q had been right, the organisation hadn't expected the four of them to go underground and come at them on their own. The plan should have been a suicide run. _It still could be._

"We went to ground and planned this assault alone." Mallory watched gleefully as the boss's expression turned thunderous. "Four spies are taking down your entire operation. You really shouldn't have pissed us off."

M was well aware that his opponent was edging closer so he shifted his weight to his good foot and subconsciously moved into a defensive stance.

"You shouldn't have pissed me off." The boss growled and raced forward fists swinging. Mallory expected the crazed assault but it didn't make it any easier to fend off. He brought his arms up to his face and fought to keep up with the fists that appeared to be raining down on him from all sides. It was becoming a losing battle, his opponent was too fast and his blows impossibly strong. each one jarred M's bones and rattled his insides.

"You're more stupid than I expected. We will kill all of you!" The boss's strikes impossibly grew more ferocious, and Mallory was having a hard time blocking the worst of them let alone getting off his counter-strikes.

He tasted more and more blood and was pretty sure his nose had been broken during the last bout of hits. His ribs felt like a horse had danced all over them and his leg was buckling under the increasing pressure. All in all he wasn't too peachy, on the other hand his opponent was bleeding a hell of a lot less than Mallory intended.

They both jumped and their attention was on the doors as suddenly a lot of gunfire started up across the whole compound. M wasn't entirely sure what it meant but his opponent seemed to look more stressed out by the sudden addition of firearms, if it was bad for Imperium then it was probably good news for him.

Mallory didn't have time to celebrate as a fist narrowly missed his face. The angrier his opponent seemed to get the faster and stronger his fists became. M was used to anger being someone's downfall, it usually made them careless and they would over reach. Why the hell couldn't this guy conform to some laws of the universe like everyone else.

M caught the next fist and grabbed hold of his attacker's body attempting to force him into a wall and take the upper hand finally. His attacker stalled the attempt and brutally gripped and pinched M's bloody arm wound. Mallory shouted out as the gunshot wound burned under his attacker's death grip. He shoved his attacker off and gasped in relief as the grip broke away from his wound.

The boss had a feral grin on his face as he reached down to his ankle whilst M recovered, staggering back against the desk. His attacker withdrew a nasty looking knife and bore down on Mallory's position.

"When I've killed you, I'm going to make Q undo all the damage he's done." The boss slashed out with the knife which only just narrowly missed M, M had barely managed to jump out of the knife's path in time. Mallory ignored his opponent's goads with difficulty.

The boss stalked his prey round the office, slashing down with the knife with precision and rage. Mallory had to use all of his military training just to keep his body slash free, he hadn't spotted a chance to disarm the boss yet. His opponent was being too careful for that and had clearly been trained how to use the lethal weapon properly.

"I'm going to make him do whatever I want, I'll torture him every day until he begs for death and maybe one day I'll grant his wish."

The threats made Mallory freeze and his opponent capitalised on the mistake and managed to slash at M's arm. Gareth leapt back and grabbed at his new wound, already feeling warm blood trickle through his fingers. He felt rage grow inside him as Imperium threatened his friend again. Mallory knew his opponent was trying to get under his skin, he was just pissed that it was working.

The boss grinned as he spotted the effect of his words, he continued to press M's weak spots mercilessly. "I'll kill your friends next. Bond wasn't it? And the pretty one. Moneypenny."

Mallory's concentration completely fell apart when he mentioned her name, not Eve he couldn't let this bastard do _anything_ to his Eve. His opponent made good on M's mistake and hooked Mallory's leg with his. They both went down to the floor and landed heavily. Gareth cried out as the knife entered his body near his ribs, he desperately gripped at his opponent's knife arm with both hands and just about managed to push the weapon out. It was taking all of his strength to keep the knife out of his body a second time; his arms trembled from the effort of it.

The boss leaned down heavily and ground his knee into M's ribs. Mallory gasped as his knife wound flared up from the pressure. The knife was still held between both their bodies. Mallory was fighting to keep it out of his chest whilst his opponent was fighting to plunge it deep into his heart. His opponent had noticed his reaction to Moneypenny's name that had caused the distraction which led to this perilous moment.

"So you like this Moneypenny do you?"

Mallory ignored the thoughts of her that raced through his mind. He wanted to see her again more than anything and that would definitely not happen if this knife reached it's destination. M started to weaken as blood loss and his injuries kicked in; he didn't know how much longer he could hold the deadly weapon at bay but he had to continue to fighting. He couldn't give up.

The boss smirked widely and pressed his face down towards Mallory, looking him right in the eye with a manic glint in his eye. "Perhaps I will keep you alive, so you can watch her die."

Thankfully Mallory was distracted from imagining the unthinkable scenario when a rather familiar voice echoed through the office. "Actually, I think I'd rather watch you die."

Two deafening gunshots resounded around the two fighters and Mallory watched his opponent's shocked face. He saw the confusion and pain flicker in the other man's eyes before the light went out and his lifeless body went limp. The knife clattered down harmlessly and Mallory stared into the dead eyes as shock overtook him. His brain suddenly starting working and realised that having a dead body on top of him was rather uncomfortable. He pushed and heaved his old opponent off and groaned as his chest pulled with the action; he felt sore all over and rather light-hearted from the blood loss.

He glanced to the doorway and saw Eve standing with a smoking gun in her hand. She looked like a bloody avenging angel in the light and Mallory thought that he was still imagining this whole scenario, maybe he had died from the knife wound and this was heaven.

Eve's gaze met his and her eyes softened immediately. Mallory hadn't really noticed how cold and hard she had been a few second ago; the contrast was stark. She was by his side in a few steps and her searching stare found his most immediate wound quickly. Eve helped him sit up and shuffle back against the mahogany desk, it was about the only thing left in the room that was in one piece after his brawl.

M couldn't help but gasp as she balled up her jumper and pressed it firmly against his knife wound. He saw stars as his nerves were set alight, and he fought off the darkness and focussed on her face to give him strength. Mallory saw concern in her kind eyes and felt guilty he was putting her through this. He must have looked quite a sight if he looked half as bad as he felt. M did know that however much he hurt that his wounds weren't fatal. Even his knife wound hadn't bled half as much as he expected and the area meant there were no major organs to hit, he had been lucky. Well he would have been luckier if he hadn't ended up with a bloody knife in him.

Mallory felt the need to re-assure Eve as her worried eyes fixated on the worst of his injuries. "It's just a flesh wound."

Eve scoffed and raised her eyebrows in disbelief. Mallory realised he had sounded just like Bond and couldn't help but laugh. Her stern expression soon fell apart as his jovial mood became infectious. He was alive and that was the main thing.

"Thanks for saving my life." He sobered and thanked his partner sincerely. Moneypenny was relatively unscathed after her assault and had saved his ass again, this was becoming a habit. Not that he minded.

She finally moved her attention from the knife wound to his face and a genuine look of happiness morphed her expression. "It's my job sir."

Mallory stared into her beautiful eyes and the room faded away. The sound of gunfire dropped to nothing and the misery in his body ebbed away. In this moment it was just him and Eve, it was all that mattered in the whole world. He felt his heart race and his pupils dilated. They didn't speak but Eve closed the distance between them inch by inch, eyes locked onto his.

He didn't think before moving he just acted as the silence stretched on. He leant in and captured her lips with his own, pushing all his passion and emotion to be alive into the kiss. It was fiery, loving and full of life. He suddenly remembered where he was, who exactly he was kissing and he pulled away abruptly as if scolded. He blushed embarrassingly as he waited for Eve's reaction; her eyes were closed and he couldn't read her face.

"Sorry." He muttered stupidly realising that he may have just ruined the best friendship he had ever had.

"Shut up." She whispered and then suddenly her hands were in his hair and her lips were on his own. This time the fire of the kiss was being stoked by both participants. It was amazing, exhilarating, Mallory was lost for words. They pulled apart when they became too breathless and laid their foreheads together panting from the exertion. Eve's hand slipped and she accidentally brushed his knife wound.

"Ahhh." He gasped in surprise and pain, suddenly all his injuries made themselves known and the outside world bled into theirs.

She jumped away and her face flashed with guilt. "Sorry." She whispered awkwardly still flustered after their kiss.

"It's okay,." Mallory laughed, it was a price he would pay any day for a perfect moment like what they had just shared. "I told you it's just a flesh wound."

Mallory grinned giddily at her as his heart fluttered madly. Nothing could take away what he was feeling, not even the agony from the knife wound. That kiss had been electric; he had never felt more alive than in this moment.

Eve glanced at his bloody injury sadly then her still-dilated eyes gazed into his. "I don't like seeing you hurt."

Gareth felt slightly taken aback by the emotion he saw in Eve's face, the softness of her words. It was the first time Mallory had seen his friend really scared, frightened to lose _him._ He felt the sudden urge to comfort Eve to let her know that he was really alright.

"I know, but I'm going to be okay. I'm alive. _We're alive._" He gripped her arm reassuringly and hoped it would be enough for her to console her. She had to believe as he did that they were going to get through this. He would heal with time just like he had in the past.

Loud shouting grew louder which caused them both to realise that they were still in enemy ground and potential danger. Eve's vulnerability dropped instantly and she became agent Moneypenny again, brilliant and fearless. Eve helped him to his feet patiently and scrutinised his every move and grimaced as his wounds pulled.

Mallory favoured his right side as he staggered to his feet; he had to admit without Eve's help he probably would have toppled by now. His balance was definitely off and it probably wasn't being helped by the pounding his face and head had taken. M took a minute to steady his balance and tried to ignore the way Eve scowled at his various wounds. She certainly didn't believe for one second that he was suffering just a flesh wound, but he wasn't going to die from his injuries he would just be sore as hell for a while.

Eve sighed as his stubborn expression remained. She had clearly been making a decision and now her mind was made up. "Come on let's go and see how Q and Bond got on."


	5. Chapter 5

They headed out of the office slowly and saw the destruction that littered the space outside, bodies and rubble littered the dark corridors and the emergency lighting creating eerie shadows. Mallory took a second to realise that the compound seemed quieter than before; there was a distinct lack of gunfire and the shouting had decreased in volume. Eve noticed his confused look so began to explain the events he had missed whilst he was otherwise engaged.

"Backup arrived a while ago, the compound is secure now. You didn't think I held that lot off by myself did you?"

Mallory smiled sheepishly he had actually. They continued to make their way towards the center of the compound and M started to see friendly personnel in the distance. He felt a lot less wary now he knew the compound had been secured by their people.

Eve handed him a new earwig from one of her many pockets, Mallory realised he must have lost his either during the fight or when he was captured. "Comms are back up, everyone's looped in on the usual channel."

Mallory nodded at her gratefully and took the offered communication piece. He suddenly heard dozens of voices urgently ordering for bodies to help secure prisoners and arrange transport. M tried to follow some of the chatter to find out if he could hear Q or Bond on the channel, but there were too many voices for his battered head to decipher.

M felt sorer the further they walked each step aggravated all his injuries. Just a little further, was the mantra he kept repeating his his head. They finally made it outside into the daylight, and it was a stark contrast to the darkened windowless corridors so they both squinted and blinked against the change.

Apart from the chatter the compound felt eerily quiet; it was strange and oddly mirrored how it had been this morning before it had all kicked off. He couldn't help it but Mallory's eyes were drawn to the damage the agents had wrought, the endless bodies and burning infrastructure. The air reeked of blood, dust and death.

"Have you heard from Q or Bond?" Mallory asked as they made their way towards the central section across the courtyard. M could see that things were well underhand now and teams were busy securing different areas and ferrying equipment and relief around the base; it was amazing that earlier it had been so overwhelmingly full of enemies and now they had all fallen.

"Only that they're both in one piece. Q wanted radio silence so he could concentrate on bringing down the network. I think he's currently orchestrating all field agents to go after targets." Eve replied and tightened her grip on Mallory's arm as he stumbled when his foot got caught in a doorway.

"I'm okay." He muttered through clenched teeth and took a moment to steady his swaying body. His head was pounding loudly and his chest was still burning. He had been keeping pressure on the wound so thankfully the bleeding had almost stopped.

Eve glared at him darkly clearly not believing him in the slightest. "I will be okay." He corrected feeling chastised.

Eve ushered him into a side hallway away from prying eyes. "I should haul you in front of the medics you know." She hissed in a whispering tone.

Mallory winced as the movement pulled at his wounds. As much as he wanted to sit down and give into the darkness he needed to see Q, he needed to make sure everyone was okay. "Please Eve, I will sit down and let all the medics in the world poke and prod me, just after I've seen Q and Bond."

Her incredulous expression softened as she recognised the plea. They had all been through a lot together the past few months. "All right." She finally agreed. "But lean on me more, stop pulling at it more than you need to."

It was a compromise and the best offer he was going to get so Mallory nodded eagerly and immediately complied. They made slow progress towards the center of the compound, but with Mallory leaning on Eve his injuries weren't taking the brunt of their travelling any longer. He had to admit it was easier and more manageable this way. The closer the got to HQ the higher the damage and body count. It looked like bond had gotten a chance to have his fun after all.

Armed guards were posted outside the entrance to HQ, the men both nodded a greeting at M and Eve and didn't pass comment on the state Mallory was in. M's lips parted in surprise as they limped into the main hub and witnessed how busy it was, to the outside eye it looked like absolute chaos. Q would have called it organised chaos but in Mallory's books even that was still chaos.

M's eyes scanned the room and recognised several technicians and field agents who were scurrying between the center and the edges of the rooms. Right in the center of the madness standing in the eye of the storm was the quartermaster; he was in his element.

Q was standing in the middle of dozens of screens and just as many keyboards that encircled him on almost all sides. The quartermaster was issuing orders and providing intelligence quickly into his earpiece and M was reminded of a time he had walked into Q branch to see the quartermaster commanding four simultaneous missions like a crazed conductor. To M it had looked insane and impossible to tie the four missions together in such a way, but to Q's brain everything slotted into place perfectly and the entire thing had gone off without a hitch.

He and Eve struggled over to the centre of the room picking their way round rubble and bodies. The room was covered with blood, bullet marks and had a lot of uncleared smoke hanging in the air which indicated at least one explosion. Yet even with all the damage Q and his area was completely untouched by the carnage, he didn't even have a hair out of place. It was like he had his own personal force field; another name for that force field was James Bond.

Speaking of the 00 agent Mallory soon spotted the blond man hovering by Q's side, his service pistol still out and ready for use even though they had been given the all clear. M knew Bond wouldn't truly stand down until they were outside enemy territory and even then it would take some doing, especially after the multiple kidnapping attempts on Q.

M chuckled as he watched Bond glare at any agent that got too close to the quartermaster's domain. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get the image of a guard dog out of his mind, and it definitely didn't help when 007 actually growled at a passing agent. Mallory and Eve made their way over to the inner circle and met Bond's eyes.

James' cold stare warmed as he spotted his two friends shifting aside to let them past. The agent's face morphed into a dark scowl that could have rivalled Eve's as he spotted Mallory's limp and the angry bruises covering his neck and face.

"What happened to you?"

Gareth could read the concern in Bond's eyes a mile off and recognised his usual way of dealing with unwanted emotions, by hiding behind jokes. M did much the same which was why he saw through the attempt with ease. Q spun round and gasped in alarm when he saw the state Mallory was in. Mallory was shocked the quartermaster could focus on so many things at once and still register voices around him.

"I got in a fight." He finally answered his agent. He kept his voice light and unsurprisingly James snorted with amusement.

Mallory almost kicked himself when he realised he had completely missed the blood on Bond's jacket when he had done his initial scan of the room. Now he had seen the darkened patch he could scarcely take his eyes off it, the whole of 007's shoulder was soaked with dark blood and he could see an entry wound. Perhaps the reason he hadn't noticed Bond's injury was because the agent wasn't acting like he had a whole ripped through him.

"What about you?" Concern bled into his voice despite his best efforts. Even though Bond's face wasn't showing any weakness or pain that didn't mean he wasn't feeling it, Bond was just better than most at hiding what he felt. Mallory knew from experience that the body never got used to pain however the mind could be trained to ignore and control the effect of it until it was over.

M noticed Q hadn't taken his eyes off Mallory's wound but he had resumed talking to people on the comms line. 007 brushed aside the concern and smirked with his trademark grin. "I got in a fight."

Mallory laughed as he heard his own words parroted back at him. For a second there he thought he was going to get an honest answer out of 007, he should have known better really. His jovial mood was infectious and soon Bond was grinning back at him. M clasped the agent's good shoulder warmly and relished the happy moment. He was appreciative that they were all in one piece and beyond relieved that Bond had kept Q completely unharmed.

"You two are stubborn idiots." Q interrupted and shook his head at the pair before returning his attention to the monitors. Eve snorted and stifled a laugh, Mallory looked a little stricken at the abrupt change in Q's demeanour. He hadn't heard any real anger or heat in the remark and judging by Bond's jovial mood, Q wasn't that angry.

M untangled his body from Eve's support and walked stiffly over to Q, putting himself between the quartermaster and his monitors. Mallory rested back against the table and tried his best to hide any discomfort he felt about standing without Moneypenny's support. Q frowned at M which told him he wasn't as good as he thought he was at schooling his expression, perhaps he would have to take pointers off Bond…

"How's it going Q?" He waited until the quartermaster appeared to have a gap in the comms traffic.

Mallory saw real anger flash behind Q's eyes for a split-second before it was gone and he was leaning around M to get to a keyboard. Mallory remained where he was as he studied the quartermaster and tried to work out his friend's puzzling behaviour.

Strangely Q refused to meet his discerning gaze and focussed on staring at the keyboard he was bashing; M knew Q could touch type so the quartermaster was avoiding him intentionally. "Everything's under control. Their network is falling apart as planned and agents across the globe are chasing down loose ends."

M groaned inwardly as Q refused to stop talking shop. He was sure Q had known what he was really asking but he was being deliberately difficult and obscure for some unknown reason, oh yes and he was somewhat angry with M and perhaps even Bond.

"I wasn't talking about the work Q. Are you okay?" He clarified seriously. On the surface Q looked completely unharmed but who knew what was going on underneath?

Suddenly the quartermaster slammed down the keyboard with enough force to loosen keys and send them flying, M blinked in surprise he hadn't known Q was capable of such physical outrage. Q spun to face Mallory and Bond with a thunderous expression on his face.

"How am I?!" He all but shouted. M had never actually heard Q raise his voice towards him before, he had talked enthusiastically and passionately yes but had never actually yelled. "You two are unbelievable." He pointed at James and Mallory accusingly.

Mallory was distantly aware that Eve was busy shepherding people out of the room discretely, wanting to get rid of as many witnesses as possible to the ongoing meltdown. It was not often that M was rendered completely speechless but this was one of those rare moments. He hadn't expected Q to react so violently or be affected so badly.

"Q." James spoke softly and made to move towards his partner, realising smartly that Q would not appreciate a jovial response or smirk.

Q uncharacteristically scurried out of reach. "Don't James." His voice cracked with emotion and M saw that the quartermaster's defences were crumbling around him.

Mallory and James remained rooted to the spot as Q's breathing grew harsher. "How can you joke about almost dying?" His voice was quiet and M's heart clenched as he heard the anguish in Q's question.

M knew that Q had been suffering from nightmares ever since their kidnapping and the main theme of those nightmares was someone close to him dying whilst he watched helplessly. M realised that this situation and the sight of his friends injured had most likely hit too close to home, and brought all those harrowing nightmares and turbulent emotions to the surface. Q had put up with more than he should have recently; he had essentially taken the weight of the world on his shoulders and now he was crumbling under the pressure of it. He wanted to help ease Q suffering but would his friend let him if he wouldn't even allow Bond close?

Mallory closed the distance between him and Q with great patience and care. He reached out and gripped his friend's hand gently in his own and moved it to rest against his own chest, so Q could feel the regular heartbeat underneath and fight away the demons in his mind. Bond silently joined M and took Q's other hand and mirrored Mallory's actions.

M was anxious at first that Q would simply pull away from them both and retreat further into his own mind, which would have been disastrous. Thankfully Q simply closed his eyes and his breathing slowed as he felt the steady pulse's beneath his hands.

For the first time in a long time M felt safe and content and he so desperately wanted Q to feel the same. "Feel that? We're all okay Q. We're alive. We're _safe._"

Q opened his eyes tiredly and blinked away tears; he pulled his hands away from their chests and sagged into Bond's open arms.

"It's over." Bond whispered lovingly into Q's hair wrapping his strong arms safely round his partner, shielding him from the outside world. The heart-warming sight made Mallory smile.

Eve nudged Mallory's arm and indicated to Q and Bond. He looked at her and realised what she wanted to do. He took her hand and they both moved to encompass Q from behind. If anyone entered the room and saw the head of MI6, the quartermaster, a 00 agent and the best assistant in the world hugging then so what? They were a family and this whole nightmare had only served to bring them closer.

They all whispered in unison. "Its over."

_Finis_

* * *

**A/N - So that marks the end of the trilogy, I'm working on a fluffy one shot which covers M and Eve's growing relationship so expect to see that in the next few days.**

**Until next time...**


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